Bifurcation and chaos in a system simulating magnetic field configurations

In the present article, the behaviour of a nonlinear dynamical system has b een analysed using the approach of bifurcation theory. The system is import ant due to the fact that it can simulate the magnetic held configurations i n various situations. The nature of bifurcation has been explored in the pa rameter space with the help of continuation algorithm. The various limit an d bifurcation points (BPs) are classified. In the second part, we have stud ied the temporal evolution of the system which also shows a chaotic behavio ur. The system under consideration shows instability both with respect to p arameter variation and evolution of time. Lastly, some mechanisms have been studied to control such chaotic scenario. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier S cience Ltd.